The Dystopian Society Exposed In The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale displays Gilead, a depressed dystopian society, which is seen from the congested mind of the main character, Offred. Through Offred’s mind readers can see there is an obvious societal divide by gender and the caste system created in hopes to restore the society from the fall of the old world. Offred is a handmaid in Gilead. In Gileadean society, handmaid’s are essentially sex slaves forced to once a month engage in a ceremony with their house commander and his wife in hopes to have a child for their family since many women in this society are unable to produce children. Offred is a handmaid to Commander Fred and his wife, Serena Joy. The tone of the handmaid/wife relationship purpose if evident even in the epigraph. . The style of writing which Atwood chose exhibits a depressing tone through the use of biblical allusions, metaphor and flashbacks.
Biblical allusions are present in Gilead from the name itself to the names of the shops. The
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It can be argued that the novel itself was a metaphor to the mindset society has toward women. An obvious metaphor seen throughout the book is the use of color, especially red. Red generally symbolizes love, blood and anger. For the handmaids red symbolizes the blood that comes of their fertility. There is irony that there is use of a color meant to describe love in a society where love is overlooked as Offred states to the Commander, “ What did we overlook…?”. Another major metaphor throughout the novel is the use of flowers all around the city. Flowers are often used as a representation of beauty, fertility and growth. In Gilead, “"Many of the Wives have such gardens, it's something for them to order and maintain and care for...” Since many of the wives also are unable to have children and this is why the use of flowers amongst the wives can symbolize the need to take care of a child and watch it
Herland Chapter 3 Summary
525 Words | 3 Pages(Gilman 22). I think symbolizes a Utopia because Gilman is writing about a world she wishes was real. A world where women were their own and not the property of men. I think this idea stemmed from the lifestyle and societal norms she grew up with, and she wanted to make a change or at least imagine
The Handmaid's Tale Feminist Analysis
649 Words | 3 PagesThe novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about a society set in a future world where women’s rights have been revoked. Many values change with this new regime of controlled women and strict laws. Despite the changes in the world it maintains many conservative, religious beliefs while also containing liberal, feminist beliefs simultaneously. Society in the futuristic world of Gilead is structured heavily off of readings from the Bible and traditional views of gender that have been in place for a long time. An example of the Bible being an important part of society is the idea of the Handmaids came from a passage in the Bible about two women, Rachel and Leah.
Symbolism In How To Read Literature Like A Professor
643 Words | 3 PagesIn How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster teaches readers the meanings behind commonly used symbols, themes, and motifs. Many readers of all ages use this book as a guide to understanding messages and deeper meanings hidden in novels. The deeper literary meanings of various symbols in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are explained in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. By using Foster’s book, readers can better understand the symbols in The Handmaid’s Tale.
The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism Analysis
931 Words | 4 PagesSymbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism in a story is when a person or an object in the story symbolizes something else that is not directly stated. There are many types of symbolism in Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper. The wallpaper itself, Jennie the housekeeper, the husband, the nursery, and the woman in the wallpaper are all symbols for something more. All of these things symbolize an aspect of the lives of women in the 19th centuries. Gilman wanted her story and the characters in it to relate to a deeper issue than Jane’s “illness”.
Racism And Classism In The Handmaid's Tale
746 Words | 3 PagesWhat would become of the world, if our current societal flaws, such as sexism, racism, and classism were ingrained and executed at a systematic level? This is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale set out to explore. The novel, which claims to be speculative fiction, is set in the theocratic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA), where birth rates are rapidly declining and women have been marginalized by the patriarchal regime, forbidden to read, write or love and valued only if they are able to procreate. They are separated into classes, including Wives, Marthas, Aunts, Unwomen, and Handmaids, distinguishable only by the color of their clothing. The Handmaids are renamed by combining ‘of’ and the name of the Commander that they have been assigned to, stripping them of any individuality.
Dehumanization In The Handmaid's Tale
783 Words | 4 Pages“What it really means is that she is in control of the process and thus the product. If any.” (109). The society of Gilead wants to make sure that the child is the Commander’s wife’s child as much as possible, and they believe that by having Serena Joy hold the hands of Offred, then that is possible. In this way, Offred, and all of the other Handmaid’s are sexually dehumanized.
Control Of Women In The Handmaids Tale
678 Words | 3 PagesIn the Handmaid 's Tale power is used to control the women and sort them into certain gender roles. Each women in the society of Gilead is assigned a certain job that is stereotypical of a woman 's job such as cooking, sex, and reproduction. These women are the lowest class in Gilead and have no control. The men have superior power of the women but the women such as Ofgeln and Offred gain control in power in their lives. Men have an upper hand in the control of these women.
Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Yellow Wallpaper
815 Words | 4 PagesGilman is frightened about the woman, and keeps this fear to herself. Another thing that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses to show imagery is the scent that she smells. “But there is something else about that paper - the smell! It creeps all over the house. I find it in the dining-room, skulking in the parlor, hiding in the hall.. ”
Political Issues In The Handmaid's Tale
988 Words | 4 PagesIt projects a patriarchy of elite white men who repress the majority of the population through sexist and racist policies. In this puritanical state, Commanders are political leaders and lawmakers who support and contribute to the rise of Gilead. Each Commander possesses a big house, a Wife, Marthas, a driver, and a Handmaid, epitomizing wealth and power. The Gilead society uses Biblical allusions to justify the role of the Commanders. During the Women’s Prayvaganzas, the Commander expresses, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve” (221) where Eve was made as a helper and to complement Adam as a servant rather than function as an equal.
Government In The Handmaid's Tale
1523 Words | 7 PagesIn Gilead, the government made it a priority to take away individuality from women. Women cannot work, go to school, or read and write, and are each assigned very basic, specific tasks, such as having children. In that aspect, the society seems to be outdated instead of in the future, as women used to have menial tasks before they became equal. For Offred, her only job is to have children, as reproduction is a necessity in Gilead. However, even though Offred has a different job than other people, she is still restricted from having individuality.
The Importance Of The Tulips In The Handmaid's Tale
301 Words | 2 PagesHowever, there are deficient expressions of femininity. Through the use of the symbol of the red tulips In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood shows how flowers are given special attention as objects; these flowers can grow at a time. However, not a lot of women can. The overall passage in this passage is the handmaids are parallel to a red tulip. The author includes this chapter in her book to show everybody has their own purpose in society.
Gender Roles In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale
1035 Words | 5 PagesThis year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Atwood 's dystopian classic, The Handmaid 's Tale. The novel is told from a first person account of a young woman, Offred. In an age of declining births, she is forced to become a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, the imagined future in the United States. The Handmaids are to provide children by the substitution of infertile women of a higher social status. Through the creation of different characteristics of female characters – ones who are submissive yet rebellious, and like to take advantage of their power - Margaret Atwood portray themes of love, theocracy, rebellion, and gender roles.
Oppression Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood
996 Words | 4 PagesThis society is governed by men, the Commanders with the assistance of Aunts, then comes the Wives, Handmaid’s and Moira. Gilead was formed as a response to the dramatic decreasing birth rates, thus women called Handmaid’s are used to rejuvenate the population. How and why are different social groups represented in a particular way in The Handmaid’s Tale? In Handmaid’s Tale, women are objectified and used only for their reproductive attribute.
Totalitarianism In The Handmaid's Tale
1251 Words | 6 PagesThe Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of
Comparison Of Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale By Virginia Woolf
1141 Words | 5 PagesIn this frightening society, women are not allowed to speak freely, therefore, the handmaids learn how to lip-read, and to whisper at one another while they are at the Red Center (where handmaids are trained for their mission), as their only way to communicate with another person, and to maintain even a minimum of human contact in a society that has amputated their ability to feel as a normal human being. Even though this is pure fiction, sadly some common threads between Gilead and our society can be found. For instance, in some South Asian countries, women’s rights are non-existent, they are treated
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